A Texas man has been accused of stabbing his girlfriend to death and sharing photos of the killing with the victim's horrified friends and family on her Facebook page.

The body of Jennifer Streit-Spears, 43, was found by police at her apartment on Sunday morning (29 May). Kenneth Alan Amyx, 45, has been charged for her death and is accused of posting two photos of the murder alongside the caption "Please pray for us."

The first allegedly showed Streit-Spears' lifeless body, while another showed what police believe is Amyx's bloodied face.

The distraught victim's sister called police after seeing the pictures on Facebook. Officers then visited his apartment, forcing down the door of Streit-Spears' apartment in Plano, north of Dallas, to gain entry.

Amyx, once a computer repairman, was arrested and is currently held in Collin County Jail with a $600,000 bail. He was later revealed to have been wanted for alleged child offences, including the sexual assault of a child in Rockwall County and indecent exposure to a child in Dallas County.

Friends and family of Streit-Spears spoke of their distress as photos of the killing were left on Facebook for about 36 hours after the incident despite repeated requests to administrators at the social networking service to take them down.

Her sister, who did not want to be named, told the Daily Dot: "I did ask them to remove it several times. They told me I could block Jennifer if I didn't like what she posted and gave me other similar options."

One friend spoke of being terrified when she first saw the photos.

"The pictures were not clear although they were extremely scary. I just started to reach out to our mutual friends to see if they've heard anything," Fran Stamey told CBS.

Facebook later said in a statement they had left the photos up not knowing the victim's account had been hacked and believing they could be a cry for help.